Improvement in plows



UNITED STATES ,PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN MecoEMIcK, 0F AUBURN, VIRGINIA.

IM PROVEM ENT IN FLOWS.`

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 501, dated December 1,1837.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN MGCORMICX, ofAuburn, in the countyofFauquier and State of Virginia, have made certain improvements in theplow for which I originally obtained Letters Patent of the United Statesdated the from A to B is eighteen inches, or nearly so.I

The landside and mold-board I have cast in one entire piece, as isfrequently done in other plows. The share may be of wrought or ofcastiron. Upon the lower side of the landside there is a rabbet or recess toreceive the hind end of the share, when of wrought-iron, which is to beScrew-bolted to and iiush with it. This recess may be two inches inheight. Its line of junction at the back end is shown at a a. On thelower'side of the landside, at its back end, I also generally form arecess or rabbet. the place of which is shown by the lines a t B, toreceive a shoe,which is to be bolted on. Som etimes, however, I omit theshoe and leave the casting solid, and in the form shown in the drawings.From the back end of the moldboard, as at b, at the distance of abouttive inches from B, its bottom line rises in a gentle curve, but as itapproaches the heel the curve is quicker, and the heel assumes asemicircular form, as shown in its outline at B, which semicircle isupon a radius of about two inches. This curvature in a landside ofthedesignated length gives a proper leverage to the handles, While itsuffices to steady the plow, keep it in its proper forward direction,and counteracts the action of the earth against the moldboard in itsturning. The back edge of the landside,

`from the heel B to the top G,`which bears against the beam, risesin acurve inclining toward the front, the curve being identical, or nearlyso, with that of the front or cutting edge of the mold-board c D.

The handles ofl the plow are at their inner ends brought together, so asto be fastened to and between the mold-board and landside, at about halfthe height between the bottom of the landside and the beam, as shown inFig. 2, Where the plow is represented as turned bottom upward, where d dare the ends ofthe handles and e a screw-bolt, which draws them upwardagainst ledges cast on the landside and mold-board to Sustain them, thebolt e passing up through the beam and conning the whole together. Bythis plan the inner ends of the handles are removed out of the influenceof the friction and clogging of the earth, grass, &c.

The clevis whichluse is of an improved form, and is made of cast-iron.It is represented separately in Fig. 3. It may be xed either to the top,bottom, or side of the beam. The portion ff, by which it is fastened tothe beam, iS concave on its inner side, and should be in the concavepart about tive inches in length and about two and one-halfinches wide.Itmust be iitted to the end of the beam, and to Acheck any tendency tobeing drawn forward it has a ledge or ridge across it at h, which is letinto the beam. A single screw-bolt passingthrough the hole g and throughthe beam contines it securely in place. rectly through the beam, but isinclined back toward the plow, so that in straining the nut it tends todraw the clevis back, and resists the forward draft the more perfectly.The head and nutof the bolt., of course, have bearings which adaptthem'to the position of the bolt. The end of the clevis I make abouttwonnd one-half inches from the concave to its front edge and about fourand one-half inches wide. There may be three holes in it, jjj,three-fourths of an inch in diameter, the holes and end being roundedand having in thickness the substance of metal of about an inch eachway.

What I claim as my improvements in the plow, and wish to secure byLetters Patent, 1s-

1. The curved form given to the heel of the landside, and also theconcave form of its back edge as it rises from the heel to the beam,

as herein Set forth. Y

2. The manner of stocking the plow, so far as the fixing of the handlesis concerned, by causing their inner ends to meet about midway betweenthe bottom of the landside and the beam, and confining them there in theway described.

3. The cast-iron clevis, formed and attached to the beam, substantiallyas herein set forththat is to say, embracingthe beam by its concavepart, and having a ridge let into the beam, and the bolt inclinedbackward to resist the direct action of lthe draft.

STEPHEN MGCORMIOK.

Witnesses:

' THos. P. JONES,

W. THOMPSON.

The bolt does not pass di-

